Having Received the Word

Defining 'Receiving the Word'

0:02 But we want to look at the cause this morning. Having received the word in much affliction with joy of the Holy Ghost. Having received the word. Our gospel came not unto you in word only but in power.

0:23 And that gospel coming in power produced in these people a receiving of the word. Now what does this little phrase receiving the word mean? There are two main words used in the New Testament for receiving. One of them simply means to accept something.

0:42 To take it into one's possession without any indication of how it is taken. I might receive a ticket from a policeman. I doubt that I receive that with joy. I've only received one once.

0:56 Many years ago down in Virginia when my speedometer was broken. On my old 39 Oldsville Beale. And a policeman said I was going 50 in the 35 mile an hour zone. And I had no way of proving he was wrong.

1:08 Well I received the ticket from him. Well you see I didn't receive it with any joy or any relish. I received it. One word in the New Testament means simply to take something to receive it to accept it.

1:21 Another word is used which has strong overtones of receiving with delight. A welcoming. Or an appropriating reception. Now that's the word Paul uses here.

1:35 Ye receive with a welcoming and an appropriating reception. The word in much affliction with joy of the Holy Ghost. This is the word used when it speaks of Simeon in Luke 2.28.

1:51 Taking up the babe Christ in his arms. Get the picture? When Mary and Joseph brought Christ up to the temple. According to the Old Testament law.

2:03 And Mary came with her sacrifice.

2:07 He received the babe into his arms. A welcoming reception. And then that wonderful burst of praise to God for his salvation. It's the same word used in Hebrews 11.31.

2:20 Where Rahab received the spies. She didn't just open the door to them. But you remember how she cared for them. She hid them.

2:28 She welcomed them into her home. With an appropriating. Reception. It's the word used in Acts 3.21.

2:36 Where it says. Of our Lord Jesus Christ. Whom the heavens must receive. Until the time of the restoration of all things.

2:46 How have the heavens received him? Well we studied that one day. When I preached two messages on the ascension of Christ. The cry went out from the heavenly host.

2:55 Lift up your gates ye everlasting doors. And the king of glory shall come in. And the answer came back from the battlements. Of glory.

3:02 King of glory. And then the announcement went out. He is the Lord of hosts. Mighty in battle.

3:09 And the heavens received him. And all the hosts of heaven welcomed him. That's the word used. And it's in that connotation that Paul says.

3:18 Ye received. Ye welcomed. Your hearts went out. And embraced with an appropriating reception.

The Content of 'The Word'

3:26 What? Notice what he says. Ye received the word. Now I could spend.

3:33 Three or four weeks. Just on this little word. The word. It's an interesting word.

3:39 It's the very word used. For a title of our Lord Jesus. In John 1.1.

3:44 In the beginning was the word. And the word was with God. And the word was God. But in this passage.

3:51 As in many others. The term the word. Or that phrase. Speaks of the message.

3:58 Of the gospel. Many usages. But here and elsewhere. It means.

4:05 The message. Concerning the attainment. Of salvation. In the kingdom of God.

4:13 The person and work. Of Christ. It's a message. That comes declaring.

4:19 Man's absolute ruin. By the fall. It's a message. That comes declaring.

4:25 Man's redemption. By Jesus Christ. It's a message. That comes declaring.

4:31 The necessity of regeneration. By the spirit. It's a message. That comes with overtones.

4:38 Demanding repentance. And urging men. To faith in Christ. It's the message.

4:44 That Paul preached. Wherever he went. Called in 1 Corinthians 1.18.

4:48 And the same word is used there. But the preaching of the cross. The word of the cross. Is a better translated.

4:55 Same word in the original here. The message of the cross. Is to them that are perishing. Foolishness.

5:02 But unto us who are saved. It is the power of God. It's the same word used. In the passage we read this morning.

5:09 Ye heard before in the word. Of the truth of the gospel. The message of the truth of the gospel. Now.

5:18 Going through the scriptures. And finding these references. To the word or message of the gospel. We then must ask the question.

5:26 What did that word or message contain? And the only way to find out. Is to go to the men who preached it. And when you turn.

5:33 To the book of Acts. And you turn to the epistles. You find that that was a distinct message. That had specific ingredients.

5:42 And it was a final. Absolute unalterable message. So final. And so unalterable.

5:50 That the apostle Paul said to the Galatians. Even if I come back to you. Or an angel steps out of heaven. And preaches to you.

5:59 Any other gospel. Any other word. Any other message. Let him be anathema.

6:06 Let him be accursed. Again I say unto you. Let him be accursed. When Paul says that these people received.

6:15 They welcomed with an appropriating reception. The word. He was speaking of nothing less. Than that message.

6:25 That comes from God. With specific ingredients. Concerning the rights of God. The sin of man.

6:32 The redemption of God. In Christ. The demands of God. Of repentance and faith.

6:38 That message committed. Once and for all. For the salvation of men. This is what Paul is talking about.

The Totality of Reception: Head, Heart, Hands

6:46 And he says these people received the word. In much affliction. With joy of the Holy Ghost. Now notice he says.

6:57 You received the word. Not part of it. Not a fraction of it. Not two thirds of it.

7:03 But you received. The entire message. They received. The negative aspects of that message.

7:11 Part of receiving the message of the gospel. Is accepting the bad news. That it contains. The bad news of man's.

7:19 Absolute ruin by the fall. No one receives the word. Who doesn't welcome. Even though it's painful.

7:28 That terrible indictment. That comes from heaven saying. Thou art a guilty rebel. Hell deserving sinner.

7:34 There is no receiving the word. Apart from receiving. Those awful overtones of man's judgment. The terrible scandal of the cross.

7:45 That in the bloody form of the son of God. Is the only hope of man's salvation. The terrible stumbling block. This thing was to the Jews.

7:54 That he who was God. Became weak. And was crucified through weakness. He who was rich became poor.

8:03 That we through his poverty. Might be rich. And yet they received the whole thing. That message.

8:09 Concerning God's way of saving sinners. And they received it. Into their heads. In the knowledge of it.

8:17 That's involved in receiving it. Into their hearts. In the effectual belief of it. And then into their lives.

8:24 In the practical obedience to it. That's what happened there at Thessalonica. They received the word. Head, heart, hands.

8:33 The entire person. They received the word. Now to receive the word in the biblical sense. Means nothing less than that.

First Indication of Effectual Calling: Embracing the Word

8:42 May I draw several observations before looking at the little phrase. How they received it. In much affliction and with joy of the Holy Ghost. What is the first indication.

8:54 That God is making his word come with power. And with the Holy Ghost to the heart of a man. Well the first indication is. That he begins to warmly embrace the word.

9:10 The first indication of the effectual calling of God. Is the hearty embracing of the word. Let me illustrate this from a passage of scripture. That joins these two things together beautifully.

9:24 In John chapter 6. Will you notice carefully. John chapter 6. Verses 44 and 45.

9:38 Jesus said to the Jews of his day. No man can come to me except the father which is sent me draw him. And I will raise him up at the last day. Well how does God draw.

9:56 How does God draw men to himself. That drawing without which men will not and cannot come. How does he draw. Does he draw by some kind of magical coercion.

10:08 No he draws by a way that is mysterious to us. But it's not a way that is magical for notice the next verse. As it is written in the prophets. And they shall all be taught of God.

10:20 Every man therefore that hath heard. And learned of the father coming unto me. When a man begins to hear and learn of the father. He's not far away from coming to Jesus Christ.

10:37 So how does God draw. God draws by causing the word to come with power. And causing men then to begin to welcome the word.

10:52 Bless signs to me as a pastor that God is beginning a work of grace. Is when I see someone who's been indifferent to the word. Beginning to search the word earnestly. And begin to cry to God that he'd understand the scriptures.

11:07 Oh I have high hopes for that person. I don't care how long it takes God to do the work of revealing his son. I've just got a sneaking suspicion. They're hearing and learning of the father.

11:19 And when they begin to hear and learn of the father. It won't be long before they're drawn to the son. See and that's what Paul recognized. Our gospel came not in word only but in power and in the Holy Ghost.

11:33 He became followers or imitators. He became examples why having received the word having received the word. The first indication of the effectual call is a warm embrace. The word of God.

Examples and the Natural Man's Inability

11:49 Let's look at several examples. Here we have the principle stated in John chapter 6. Now look at several examples in the book of the Acts. Where this very word received the word is used.

12:04 Acts chapter 8 and verse 14. Now when the apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God. Now what did it mean? See does it mean they simply were exposed to the preaching of the apostles?

12:27 No the same strong word is used here. They welcomed it with an appropriating reception. And you can read about it beginning with verse 5. Philip went down to the city of Samaria and preached Christ unto them.

12:41 And the people with one accord gave heed to those things which Philip spake. Verse 8 there was great joy in that city. You see the father drawing. Not magically.

12:55 In mysterious ways that we cannot put down and trace them out. One, two, three, four, yes. For the scripture says the ways of the spirit are like the wind. There's an element of mystery.

13:06 But it's not magic. It's by means of the word of God. And so as the spirit of God worked in Samaria. People received the word.

13:16 And then these blessed fruits followed. It's the same word used of the Bereans. These were more noble than they at Thessalonica. In that they, here's the word again, received the word with readiness of mind.

13:30 They welcomed it. They appropriated it to themselves. Now the scripture states categorically. And I want you to look at it so that there'll be no confusion in anyone's mind.

13:42 First Corinthians 2.14 is the text that uses the same word. But the natural man. The man devoid of the spirit's operation.

13:53 Here's the word. Receiveth not the things of the spirit of God. The natural man. The man who is yet a stranger to the working of God in grace.

14:09 He does not receive the word. Oh yes, he may be exposed to even have the word in his mental categories. And he may be able to give back the plan of salvation. He may be able to give back some of the substance of the word.

14:30 But the word used here is that same word. To welcome, to receive into the head, into the heart and into the life. He says the natural man receiveth not the things of the spirit of God. They are foolishness unto him.

14:44 Neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned. There must be a faculty to embrace the word this way. Which faculty? The faculty is nothing less than the mighty working of God the Holy Spirit himself.

15:01 And so the lesson of this text is tremendous for us. You parents, as you pray for your children, what should you consider some signs that God may be beginning the work of grace in them? What should you take as a sign? Ah, here's a good one.

15:18 When those kids begin to show an independent thirst for the word of God. When they begin to welcome the word. When you find that even when they know you're not checking on them. You look out the corner of your eye and you see them sitting there with their mouths open.

15:34 Drinking in the preaching of the word. See? When you find them of their own accord reaching out after the word. That's when you ought to begin to praise the Lord a little bit when you pray for your kids.

15:48 It may be God's beginning a work of grace. Not when they can parrot it. That may be nothing but the work of producing a little parrot. Not when they can mouth it.

15:58 But when it's evident that they begin to receive it. You see, that's why I'm thought cruel by a lot of my preacher friends when I go to their churches and speak at the Bible camps. I'm convinced that even a six year old or a seven year old or a five year old whose heart is beginning to be open to spiritual things will show a basic reverence for the word of God when it's preached and when it's taught. And whenever I see irreverence, I don't care on what level it is, when the word of God is preached, I take it as a mark of an unregenerate heart.

16:33 I always do. Always do. Always do. Why?

16:37 For this simple principle. We give thanks to God. Why? He received the word.

16:43 He received the word. Have you received the word? Are you receiving the word this morning? Is your heart reaching out and welcoming it with a glad appropriation?

The Christian's Submission to the Word's Authority

16:57 Or are you simply being exposed to it? Are you receiving it? The first indication of God's effectual call is just that. Secondly, second application from this little phrase, the primary characteristic of a true Christian is that he has submitted to a specific body.

17:24 Have you received the word? You received it as it came to you, Paul said. You didn't pair off any of the rough edges. You didn't tamper with it.

17:33 You didn't water it down. You didn't bring it through the sieve of human understanding. You didn't press it into the mold of human prejudice. You didn't try to shape it after the disposition of carnal desires.

17:45 No, no, Paul said, just as it came to you, you embraced it and you didn't seek to alter it one bit. That's a Christian. A man who, among other things, has been exposed to a given message and has embraced that message in total, completely, and he hasn't sought to alter it. A Christian is a man who has submitted to and embraced a defined court of authority, even the word of truth.

18:19 Notice what our Lord said in John 17 when he prays for his own. In praying for his own, he gives some beautiful descriptions of a Christian. And this is one of them, John chapter 17. Notice what he says in verses six through eight.

18:39 I have manifested thy name unto the men whom thou gavest me out of the world. Thine they were, and thou gavest them me, and they have kept thy word. Just as I gave thy word to them, they've kept it. Now they have known that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee.

19:02 For I have given unto them the words, specific words, not just thoughts, but I've given unto them the very words which thou gavest me. And they have received them, not some of them, but all of them. Now that's the Lord's description of a Christian. He has received the words of God.

19:27 He has embraced the words of God. He seeks by the grace of God to keep the words of God. They don't judge those words. They submit to them.

19:39 They let the words judge them. They don't tamper with the message to bring it in line with their thoughts, but they seek to bring their thoughts in line with the message. They don't seek to bring the word to be subject to their judgments, but they allow their judgments to be subject to the word. Let me ask you something this morning, dear child of God.

20:02 Are you convinced that if you throw off the absolute authority of the scripture, you have no grounds from henceforth to even claim you're a Christian? As Jerry Starrett pointed out so clearly in the men's class this morning, and I feel I must speak a word of warning to you as God's people, there is even in our evangelical circles today, emerging not a great big red X over the doctrine of the absolute authority and inspiration of the scripture. The devil couldn't foster a big red X on God's people, but you know what there is?

20:44 There's a little dim, gray question mark way up in the right hand corner.

20:52 See the difference? If somebody came to you with the Bible, if I came this morning and had a great, big, thick, half-inch felt marker, and I put a big red X over the whole thing and said, now that's what you ought to do with your Bible, cancel it out, I'm not trustworthy, you'd rise up in horror, wouldn't you? Now if I held out and said, well the whole thing is the word of God, but a little fuzzy gray question mark over a word or two in the right hand corner, you'd say, well that's pretty harmless, isn't it? Is it?

21:18 And that's what's happening even in evangelical circles today. A little fuzzy question mark. Oh yes, the Bible seems to teach what would the scientists, in scientific terms, would call fiat creation, that God actually broke in and created certain life forms out of nothing, but, and there's the question mark, maybe the Genesis account of creation really isn't reliable. Maybe it isn't.

21:47 The Bible seems to teach this, but, oh dear, dear ones, listen, a Christian is someone who has received the word, as it's come to him, in its totality, with its difficulties, as well as with its promises of joy and of blessing. I don't want to labor the point, but I do want to stay with it sufficiently to make the point. Would to God that it could be said of us, every time we open the scriptures and every time the scriptures are preached, what Paul could say of these people as he does in chapter 2 and verse 13, and we'll enlarge on it the Lord willing more when we come to that. Notice what he said.

22:28 Same letter, 1 Thessalonians 2.13, For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God. What a wonderful thing for a servant of God to be able to say. And he says, This is what makes me thankful to God above all else, that when we came saying, Thus saith the Lord.

23:06 And remember, Paul simply opened up the Old Testament scriptures. Remember the setting of this, Acts 17. He went into the synagogue. He reasoned out of the scriptures, verse by verse, phrase by phrase, like we're doing here.

23:19 But he said, When you people saw me going through the scroll, coming from the scroll that Jesus was the Christ, you saw beyond the parchment, you saw beyond this little hook-nosed Jew, and you saw the God who made you, speaking with power and authority, through the hook-nosed Jew who held some parchments. He says, Thank God you received it. Oh, I trust, dear ones, when you sit here Sunday by Sunday, you see beyond the black book, and beyond not the hook-nosed Jew, but the turned-up-nosed Swede, and you receive it as the word of God. Do you?

24:02 If you do, you know what's going to happen? You're going to be an imitator, and an example, and from you it will sound out, and all these others will follow, if you have the cause. He received the word.

The Spirit's Work: The Only Hope for Reception

24:21 Two principles then I see in that phrase. The first indication of the effectual call is a warm embrace of the word. Secondly, a description is one who's received a definite body of revealed truth. Then the third thing I'll only touch on briefly, because I do want to get on the little phrase, much affliction and joy of the Holy Ghost.

24:42 The only hope for such a reception of the word in ourselves and in others is the mighty work of the Spirit. Paul says, Our gospel came in power, ye received it. And the two are inseparable. If it doesn't come with power, it will not be received.

25:03 Oh, it may be received, in the first sense of the word, like I received a ticket. Grudgingly, I'll admit that's true and all, but it won't be received with a warm embrace and appropriation, for the natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God. Now, what circumstances attended that reception of the word? Paul touches on them, and there are two.

Receiving the Word 'In Much Affliction'

25:27 He said he received the word in much affliction. And secondly, with joy of the Holy Ghost. Someone has said, An age out of fellowship with martyrs is neither noble nor blessed, however prosperous. It's hard for us to understand this little phrase, receive the word in much affliction, because most of us, for the most part, do not know experimentally what much affliction means.

26:01 This is the word used throughout the length of Scripture for the, translated some places, tribulation. And Paul, it's strange to say, assured all of his converts that just as surely as they had a common lot in their sinfulness, in their Savior, in their hope of heaven, he always assured them they were going to have a common lot in their afflictions and in their sufferings. Notice what he said in Acts chapter 14. What a terrible thing to tell a bunch of new converts if you want to get them discouraged and send them back to the leeks and onion and garlic of Egypt.

26:40 Just tell them what Paul told them. Listen, what a way to confirm the disciples. Verse 22 of Acts 14 tells us in verse 21 that they returned to Lystra, Iconium and Antioch, places where they'd preached before, confirming the souls of the disciples and exhorting them to continue in the faith and that we must, through much tribulation, enter into the kingdom of God. Well, I thought you'd go to new converts and tell them how wonderful it is.

27:16 Everything's blessed and happy and joyful and peaceful. No, no. They went back and confirmed the souls of the disciples by telling them the truth, saying, roll up your sleeves, chuck up your chin. Through much tribulation you'll enter the kingdom of God.

27:34 He told these Thessalonians that. For he says in his first letter, chapter 3, verses 3 and 4, I'll only read them because we hope to come to them eventually and expound them, that no man should be moved by these afflictions, for ye yourselves know that we were appointed thereunto. For verily, when we were with you, we told you before that we should suffer tribulation, even as it has come to pass and ye know. Now, how could Paul be so sure that everywhere he went, he told these people sooner or later, face it, you're going to experience persecution.

28:08 On what basis could he make such an assertion? I believe personally he had conveyed to him the words that our Lord said to his disciples shortly before he went back into heaven. Remember what they were? In the world ye shall have, same word used, tribulation, afflictions, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.

28:31 If our Lord Jesus says to his own, ye shall have, then Paul had no qualms wherever he went, saying, listen, sooner or later, if you're not in the crucible now, you will be in it. And it's interesting, this word tribulation or affliction comes from a word which means to put pressure upon, to squeeze, to press. Ah, that's what affliction is. It's experiencing the vice-like jaws.

28:58 That pressure may sometimes come through actual physical abuse. That's what happened to these early converts. Paul had been no longer, had no longer been there, had hardly been there long enough to establish residence. When affliction started, they grabbed the fellow who was taking care of him and being his host, and they wanted to abuse him, and they had to give him some money or something to get him off their back and send Paul out of town.

29:25 The gospel was planted in the midst of affliction and persecution. These people knew experimentally that through much tribulation they had to enter the kingdom of heaven. It would seem, according to the words of our Lord, that just as all believe, all believers have a common lot in poverty of spirit, in meekness, in mourning, in hungering and thirsting, he says in the last beatitude, blessed are you and men shall revile you, and persecute you and say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake. Now there are times when perhaps that pressure does not come so much with physical abuse,

30:05 but it comes the pressure of accusation, being cuddled, and yet make it obvious that they're so cold to us. That's affliction, that's suffering, it's very real suffering. In fact, I think the suffering of rejection is perhaps the deepest form of suffering there is. To have people who frown and gnash their teeth and throw a stone at you, I think is easier than the one who smiles, but his heart doesn't go with his smile.

30:47 You sense the smile upon the face, but a heart of stone behind that face. That's an inner suffering and affliction that comes. Why? Because, you see, the Christian exposes the worldling, and because of his culture pattern, and because of the common grace of God restraining in society, he may not feel free to pick up the stone.

31:08 His culture and his society says you must smile. But in his heart, and you sense the pulse of his heart, as well as see his mock and empty smile, is a heart that says if I could, I would.

31:26 Scripture says all Christians will have a part in that. The affliction, the tribulation, of rejection, openly, overtly, or covertly, it matters not. Perhaps this is why this church is so virile. For you see, when people are recruited in time of war, they don't join the army to see the world through a portal.

31:52 A 19-year-old fellow goes down to the local induction center these days and says, I want to sign up. He knows in six months' time where he's going to be. And you may not get so many volunteering, that those that do, they know what they're in for. They make better soldiers.

32:14 And in the history of the church, one of the great principles that unfolds is this, that when the church has been at war, and the lines have been clearly drawn, and the forces of hell and darkness have been arrayed against the people of God, and the persecution and affliction breaks above ground, you don't have quite as many, quote, volunteers. But those that know that they're in, for blood and possibly for death, make far better soldiers.

32:49 And I say this again out of a deep pastoral concern, because it's the increasing conviction of my own heart. This may not be true of some of you that the Lord will probably take to glory before this comes, our dear friend Mrs. Blair and some others, but it may be true of many of us that we are going to be called upon to prove the reality of our faith and our reception of the Word by seeing if we still welcome it. In much affliction.

Affliction Reveals True Reception

33:17 Because you know what affliction does? Affliction reveals whether or not you've merely retained the Word on the surface of the life, or whether you've received it into the very fiber of your being. Let me repeat that. You know what affliction and persecution does?

33:33 It reveals whether or not you're merely retaining the Word in the surface areas of life, or whether you've received it into the very fibers of your being. Let me give you a chapter and verse to prove that statement. You turn please to Matthew 13. And this struck me so forcibly in my preparation, and we may yet live to see the proof of it in our own lives.

34:00 Notice Matthew 13. It speaks of the stony ground hearers. Some of you will remember, and I hope you will, when I preached a series of messages through this parable of the sower. And it says of those that receive the Word on stony ground that they receive the Word with joy.

34:17 And that's the strong word. That's what the Lord used. They welcomed it with joy. Oh, boy, we're wonderful.

34:22 Forgiveness, eternal life, peace. This is wonderful. Oh, this is glorious. What happened?

34:30 The sun rose. It wasn't long before the sun beat down upon that little plant, and it shriveled up, and it withered, and it died. Now our Lord is going to interpret this parable. And He says in verse, notice carefully, 20 and 21 of Matthew 13, He that received the seed into stony places heareth the Word, and anon with joy receiveth it.

34:54 Yet hath he no root in himself, but dureth for a while. How long? For when? He endures until such time as tribulation or persecution arise because of the Word, and he is offended, he falls away.

35:17 You see what happens? It's the picture of a man who receives the Word and retains the Word, is not to the roots attached to that Word. And when the sun of tribulation and persecution arises, what does it do? It reveals there was no root.

35:41 There was retention, but no root. And when persecution arises because of the Word, oh, he gladly confesses Christ. He's the only way of salvation. Sure, I confess Him.

35:54 Will you confess Him if it means your skin, your wife, your children, your life, your possessions?

36:03 I'll take my skin, you can have my Jesus. See? You can have my Jesus. And it's interesting, isn't it?

36:12 That the Bible teaches that when Antichrist appears, his pressure over men is going to be economic. Those who will not take the mark of the beast will not be able to eat and get their physical necessities. Get the implication? Frankly, beloved, I'm scared to death of professing Christians whose whole Christian experience has not a trace of self-denial.

36:44 They can never say no to a meal, to a plan, to a pleasure, to anything for the sake of Christ.

36:54 I fear that they're merely retaining the Word. And when real tribulation and persecution comes because of the Word, oh, beloved, let's not wait till it arises to see whether or not we have roots. Let's ask God to show us, Lord, have I truly received the Word? Received it?

Receiving the Word 'With Joy of the Holy Ghost'

37:16 They received it in much affliction, and all the affliction did was prove that they had really received it. And then wonderful contrast. Here's the way you should literally translate this. He received the Word in much affliction along with joy of the Holy Ghost.

37:34 Now, whoever heard of such a foolish, undefitting couple as affliction and joy? You know, sometimes you see a couple coming down the street. He's six foot seven and she's four foot eleven. And you say, now, how in the world did those two ever get together?

37:48 That just doesn't quite fit. Well, here comes affliction down the street and alongside of her, joy. And you say, now, how do you get those two together? They just don't look like a good match.

38:00 Well, you see, God delights to put things together that only God could ever think of putting together. See, we might put affliction with a word like endurance. He received the Word in much affliction with endurance of the Holy Ghost. That's like a six foot man with a five foot six woman.

38:19 They kind of fit together, see? Or we might put together, he received the Word in much enthusiasm and joy. They fit together, but affliction and joy? How do you get those two together?

38:34 Well, you see, God just likes to put together things that we human beings would never put together. Who would ever thought of God becoming a man? And choosing to breathe his first breath amidst the acrid smell of a stinking stable. Who would ever dream of a thing like that?

39:00 What does God put together? Deity! And the smell of dumb. God joins them together.

39:09 See, his ways are not our ways. The heavens are high, so are his thoughts above our thoughts, his ways above our ways. And now he wanted to bring these Thessalonians into joy. So how does he do it?

39:24 Well, he doesn't do it by stepping up the anti-poverty program, giving double benefits of social security. He lets them come to the Christian faith in the crucible of suffering. Why? Because he knows that there's an inseparable relationship between joy and affliction.

39:46 You say, I don't understand. Well, stick with me now for the remaining few minutes and I hope maybe you will. You see, the Word that came to them, offering salvation in the Lord Jesus, demanding absolute submission to Christ, that's the Word which, when they received it, led them into the arena of suffering and affliction. The moment they received that Word, you read about it in Acts 17, the Jews became jealous and they began to persecute them and afflict them and harass them.

40:17 Why? Because they received the Word about Jesus Christ and about the Gospel. But, that Word to which they adhered, even though it meant affliction, was also a Word that promised, I will never leave you. A Word that promised, He that hath the Son.

40:40 A Word that declared their sins and iniquities, will I remember no more. A Word that said, In my Father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.

40:54 So, for the first time, they had that in their minds. They had that in the midst of suffering, which they never had in the midst of peace. Sure, everything was going fine. Thessalonica was a thriving port city.

41:07 No doubt, many of these people were feeding on the affluence of that city in its state of idolatry.

41:16 ... from their idols to serve the living and the true,

41:21 suffering and yet joy. Why? The first time they had something the idol could never give them. They knew what it was to say.

41:33 They knew what it was to say, Hallelujah. They knew what it was to say, My sins are gone. No need to come before the idol day after day, hoping that persecution may come and say, Father, I thank Thee through the blood of my Son. My sins are gone forever.

42:06 They are buried in the depths of sin. You see, that's why they had joy. In the midst of affliction, the affliction came because of the Word, but the Word brought with it the very thing that raised them above affliction and gave them joy in the Holy Ghost. So if man afflicts me, so what?

42:25 God will never afflict me. That's a cause of joy. Does man reject me? That's all right.

42:31 God has accepted me. That's a cause of joy. Does man take my earthly inheritance? That's all right.

42:38 God has prepared for me a heavenly inheritance. That produces joy. Does man frown? That's all right.

42:44 God frowns. That produces joy. So you see, in the midst of affliction, joy, what kind of joy? Joy of the Holy Ghost.

The Nature of Holy Ghost Joy

42:55 Oh, the tremendous lesson in this, and I say it tenderly to some of you who feel, if only I could find the secret to joy. Ah, here it is. Listen, joy doesn't have one atom to do with your circumstances or with your possessions or with anything that relates to this life. Not a thing.

43:19 Joy has solely to do with your relationship to God, to heaven, to things eternal, and to the world to come. Joy has nothing to do with what you have here. Happiness does. Happiness has everything to do with what you have here.

43:39 Now, thank God, in some of the instances, He gives His children not only joy, but happiness as well. Happiness is based upon pleasant circumstances, being around pleasant people, living in health, living in relative prosperity, and the world can have happiness as well as sorrow, but the world cannot have joy. Joy is a quality produced by a right relationship to God. That's why it says the fruit of the Spirit is what?

44:06 Joy. Nobody else can give it but God the Holy Ghost. Therefore, no one has it except the person indwelt by the Holy Ghost. And when he's got it, it's not dependent on circumstances, because it's the result of a right relationship to God, the world to come, and to spiritual realities.

44:27 That's why you read in the book of Acts, after they let loose Peter and the others, after scourging them, it says they were full of joy. Why? Counting themselves blessed to be able to suffer.

44:42 And this is what has got the ire of unregenerate men up to its boiling point. Whenever there's been open persecution, the more they persecute the people of God, the happier they become. And they can't understand this. They can't understand this.

44:57 Why? Because they think if we take away things, we'll kill that fanatical joy, so they take away possessions. Their joy just rises a few degrees. They take away loved ones, their joy rises a few more degrees, take away life itself, and they die doing what?

45:12 Like some of the martyrs, they die hugging the faggots to their breasts. Why? Because all men can do is release them from the prison of this body, to go into the presence of their...

45:24 Oh, beloved, do you know anything of the joy of the Holy Ghost? It has nothing to do with things and circumstances. That's how these people receive the Word, in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Ghost. May God grant that as they thus receive the Word, so we too, by the grace of God, shall receive that Word.

Call to Self-Examination and Steadfastness

45:46 There's much more that I wanted to say, but time is gone, and I trust the Lord willing we can pick up the thought here the next time we are together. Have you received the Word? Are you receiving it? Welcoming it?

46:03 A warm, hearty embrace of it? Or are you simply tolerating it? Simply retaining it up here, until such time as it will be convenient to flop it off? May God grant that we shall be receivers of the Word, and if it leads, as it did with them, into open persecution, as I believe it will before too many years here in our own land, may it be written of us, received it in much affliction with joy of the Holy Ghost.

46:33 May it never be said that when tribulation and persecution arose, they were offended. God deliver us from being fair-weather Christians. And may we serve our Lord, if necessary, even to the ceiling of all witness, with our own lives. Let us unite in prayer.